Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for facilitating discussion in online forums. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for improving learner engagement in online discussions.
Related Art
Educational technology products and other teaching mechanisms commonly utilize discussions of subject matter to improve a student's mastery of the subject matter. For example, students enrolled in a course may use an online forum for the course to submit questions related to the content of the course, post answers to the questions, and/or engage in discussions related to the questions or answers. By actively participating in the online forum, the students may increase their engagement with the content, understanding of the content, and/or confidence in learning the content.
On the other hand, online discussions can be dominated by a small subset of active users instead of all users who should be participating in the discussions. For example, questions submitted in an online forum for a course may be answered quickly by users who are experts in the course's subject matter and/or users who are generally enthusiastic about participating in online discussions. As a result, users who are less familiar with the subject matter, such as students currently enrolled in the course, may be discouraged from answering the questions or otherwise participating in online discussions related to the subject matter.
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